Animal Diseases Could Infect Humans

"You learn something new everyday." That is an old saying, that is probably used too often, but it is the truth for me on this day. I learned today that according to a group of researchers, 38 animal diseases could infect humans. I did not know that diseases could jump or mutate like that, and to me it is a frightening idea. On the occasions when I have thought of diseases, I have seldom thought of their origins in animals. I usually think that the disease is some kind of mutation or malfunction in one human body, and it grows from there.

The article says that there are 1,407 pathogens, which are viruses, bacteria, parasites, protozoa and fungi according to Mark Woolhouse of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. Of those 1,407, a whopping 58 percent come from animals. This relates directly to the fear of a Bird Flu epidemic, scientists feel that the Bird Flu could emerge as a large-scale problem. This article didn't make me think so much of the bird flu (because of the press it has already gotten) but has made me think of the other possibilities that exist in animal diseases spreading to humans. It is the fear of the unknown that is the most powerful fear of them all.

Publish Date: February 20 in the Missourian.